#Protection

Unfortunately dating has a dark side and so does looking for somewhere to live, especially when you're a young woman on your own. Moving in with complete strangers is unlikely to be anyone's first choice but often poor timing, a lack of money or just plain bad luck means renting a room in a shared house or flat is the only option.

The Syrian conflict has so far already forced more than five million children to live through terrible experiences. Building on local capacities, UNICEF and its partners are providing crucial psychosocial support for children to help them overcome such traumatic experiences.

Despite growing up in notoriously crime-ridden countries in Africa, I always felt safe at school. With time, it didn't make much difference that the school bus I rode to school in Johannesburg was bulletproof. I grew used to the barbed wire that surrounded the boundaries of my school in Tanzania.

Besides their enhanced chances of subjection to violence or of being embroiled in crime either as victims or perpetrators, teens sleeping today in our cities' parks, upon shop doorsteps or 'sofa surfing' between friends and acquaintances often live in real peril of various forms of abuse by adults or older minors who observe their movements over time only to then take advantage of their powerlessness.

While the watershed does usefully remind us that there is offensive and harmful material on our screens after 9.00pm, with the challenge posed by the internet and on demand TV is the watershed past its sell by date?

Increasing evidence and scientific analysis is showing why these events are associated with human induced climate change. The related impacts are becoming more widespread and complex, affecting society from health issues to agriculture, from transportation to economics, and becoming more severe, long-lasting and costly with increasing frequency.

Crises at the scale of what has unfolded in Syria and neighbouring countries inevitably upset all norms and test the capacity of all organisations to respond, national or international. There can be no humanitarian solutions for what is fundamentally a political crisis. Yet as we head towards the third anniversary of the uprising in Syria, the international community does need to be asking itself: are we doing enough to assist those affected, and how can we do this better?

Sitting, lounging, reading books - as I am now - by a swimming pool overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, it is natural to absorb more sunshine than news. But the full horror of the Denver Dark Knight killings has penetrated this tranquil state and destroyed the lives of hundreds of innocent people oceans away from here.

As I suggested in my original blog concerning the conservation and re-introduction of wolves, that as soon as there is a conflict between man and the protected species, then these wonderful ideas of re-introduction will fall on barren ground.

I saw last night the second programme about wolf packs in the wilds of the USA, and very well made it was too. It tried its best to give both sides of what appears to be a very sensitive issue with some people having very strong feelings on both sides of the fence. Aren't you lucky! Now it's time for my two pennies worth.

As you know, there are only 3,200 left in the wild, and their only predator is man. We are killing this beautiful iconic animal for its skin, its bones, and its body parts. We are killing them to the point of extinction.

What can we do to stop this, I hear you ask? Well, we need to physically protect the wild tiger. There are trained anti-poaching patrols on the ground right now. Some of them are only equipped with bicycles, and binoculars. These brave people need more equipment to enable them to succeed. They need walkie talkies and mobile phones, Jeeps, trained dogs, tents, and a host of other equipment for them to succeed. We also need to employ and train more local people to do this vital work.